Devices for turning piped garment openings



Aug. 28, 1956 s. J. KETTERER DEVICES FOR TURNING PIPED GARMENT OPENINGS 11/1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.

INVENTOR. Slim/11 956666761 WITNESS BY wsfw y i ATTORNEY Aug. 28, 1956 5. J. KETTERER DEVICES FOR TURNING PIPED GARMENT OPENINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 11, 1953 INVENTORL Sim/11g Q i'ezlew'er WI TNE'SS AT TORNE'Z DEVICES FoR TURNING Pmnn GNT OPENINGS Stanley J. Ketterer, Sta-afford, Conn, assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. l, a corporation of New Jersey Application December 11, 1953, Serial No. 397,535

Claims. (Cl. 22339) This invention relates to devices for inverting the piping strips which form the edge structure of pipe garment openings.

In the usual methods of manufacturing piped garment openings such as pocket openings, buttonholes, and the like, piping strips, which in the finished product will provide folded strips underlying the edges of the garment opening, are initially stitched to the face of the garment fabric in which the aperture is formed. The piping strips then must be inverted through the opening in the garment fabric and finally secured in position underlying the edges of the opening in order to present a piped or bound appearance.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device by which the piping strips of a piped garment opening may be inverted quickly and easily and in which the piping will be deposited beneath the garment opening as neatly and evenly as can be accomplished by a tedious manual turning operation.

The above and additional objects and advantages will appear from the following specification and the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the turning device of the present invention partly in cross-section and showing a fragment of the supporting surface to which the device is attached.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the turner of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 represents a perspective view of a portion of garment fabric having piping strips attached thereto in the stage of production of a piped buttonhole prior to the turning operation.

Fig. 4 represents a cross-section taken substantially along line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the turning device and the garment fabric opening of Figs. 3 and 4, showing the typical position and arrangement of parts as the garment opening is drawn downwardly over the turning device.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating the typical position and arrangement of parts as upward movement and withdrawal of the garment fabric from the turning device is initiated.

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional View similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating the typical position and arrangement of parts near the completion of upward movement and withdrawal of the garment fabric from the turning device.

Fig. 8 represents a perspective view of the buttonhole of Fig. 3 after completion of the turning operation.

Fig. 9 represents a cross-section taken substantially along line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, this invention is adapted for turning piped buttonholes. More particularly, the drawings illustrate the device of the present invention and its usefulness in turn ing piped buttonholes of the type disclosed in copend- 2,756,695 Patented Aug. 2b, 1956 ing application of D. G. Smith and S. I. Ketterer, Serial No. 395,966, filed December 3, 1953.

Referring to the drawings, Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate one stage in the production of a piped buttonhole in which piping strips 20 and 21 have been folded and secured by parallel lines of stitching 22 and 23 respectively to the upper face of a piece of garment fabric 25, one at each side of a slit 26 therein, the slit being branched at each end so as to form pointed tongues 27 and 28 and to provide for the formation of a rectangular button accommodating opening in the garment fabric. Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate the next succeeding stage in the production of the buttonhole which differs from that of Figs. 3 and 4 in that the piping strips 20 and 21 have been inturned from the face of the garment fabric 25 and are positioned adjacent the under side of the garment fabric so as to underlie the side edges 30 and 31 and the ends 32 and 33 of the button-accommodating aperture in the garment fabric. The size of the button accommodating aperture, of course, is determined by the rectangle defined by the ends of the branched slit 26 formed in the garment fabric.

The present invention deals solely with a means for accomplishing this turning operation in the piped buttonhole manufacture. The manner in which the piping strips are attached as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, and the subsequent finishing operations which serve to secure the parts of the buttonhole permanently in the positions shown in Figs. 8 and 9 form no part of this invention but are discussed in detail in my above mentioned copending application.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the turning device is supported in a U-shaped bracket 35 which may be secured to a table-top or other suitable surface 36 by means of fastening screws 3737. Carried in the U-shaped bracket 35 is a clamp bolt 38 formed at one extremity with a knurled head 39 and threaded at the other extremity to receive a wing nut 40. Angularly adjustable on the bolt 38 between the arms of the bracket 35 is a cylindrical body portion 41 of a frame member indicated generally at 42. Extending from the body portion 41 of the frame member is a boss 43 which is substantially rectangular in cross sectional configuration and which is formed near its free extremity with a shallow groove 44 which extends completely around the boss. Aflixed centrally of the boss and extending outwardly therefrom is a post 45 which is shaped substantially rectangular and of considerably smaller dimension cross-sectionally than the boss 43. A thin-walled tube 50 of deformable material such as latex or any similar flexible material which in undeformed state is of substantially rectangular cross-section is closed and pointed at its free end 51 and is arranged to encase the post 45. Latex is particularly well suited for use with this invention for the added reason that it possesses a high coefficient of friction with practically all garment fabrics. The base portion 52 of the tube 50 is open and is formed with an inwardly extending lip 53 which is stretched over the boss 43 and seated in the groove 44 thereof to anchor the tube in place on the frame member 42. The body portion 41 and the boss 43 of the frame member are formed with a bore 54 which opens at one end to the atmosphere and at the other end to the space between the post 45 and the walls of the tube 50 so as to provide a free flow of air into and out of the deformable tube 50.

The normal cross-sectional configuration of the tube 50 is dimensioned slightly larger than that of the finished opening of the garment fabric as defined by sides 39, 31 and ends 32, 33 which are best shown in Fig. 8. In the preferred embodiment, the post 45 is preferably dimensioned cross-sectionally no larger than one half the size of the button accommodating aperture in the garment fabric. These figures and proportions are not meant to be limitations but have been found to afford optimum results. It will be apparent moreover that any suitable means equivalent to the post 45 and the lip 53 may be substituted for the structure of the preferred embodiment for the purpose of maintaining the flexible walled tube in extended position.

The mode of operation of my turning device is indicated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. The slitted garment fabric 25 to which piping strips 20 and 21 have been stitched, is grasped by the operator, the slit 26 is positioned over the pointed free extremity 51 of the tube and then the garment fabric is pushed downwardly on the tube toward the base thereof, as shown in Fig. 5. The post 45 engages and supports the flexible tube in extended position during the downward movement of the garment fabric. The piping strips 20 and 21 as well as the pointed tongues 27 and 28 and the edges of the slit 26 in the garment fabric are bent outwardly and upwardly as shown in Fig. 5 when the garment fabric is pushed downwardly over the turning device.

After having been pushed downwardly toward the base 52 of the tube, the garment fabric is then withdrawn upwardly and off the tube, during which upward movement, as illustrated in two stages in Figs. 6 and 7, the flexible tube frictionally engages the piping strips 20 and 21 and the tongues 27 and 28 about the entire periphery of the buttonhole aperture and draws these parts through the aperture to the under side of the garment fabric. The high coefficient of friction between the side walls of the flexible tube 50 and the garment fabric and the fabric piping strips causes the edge structure of the piped garment opening to be gripped by the tube 50 and thereby inturned. During the withdrawal of the garment fabric, the flexible tube 50 stretches slightly, however, the tube is maintained in place with respect to the frame member 42 by means of the lip 53 at the base portion 52 of the frame member, which lip 53 is seated in groove 44 of the boss 43 on the frame member. In Fig. 6, which illustrates the typical position of the fabric parts and of the turning device during the initial upward movement of the garment fabric relative to the turning device, one of the piping strips 20 is illustrated as being drawn through the aperture in the garment fabric while the piping strip 21 and the tongue 28 have not yet begun to pass through. It has been observed that this unevenness during the inturning operation, is a normal occurrence, although the precise manner in which the piping strips are inturned is random and unpredictable. The deformable tube 50, however, is ideally suited for drawing the piping strips through the buttonhole aperture in whatever order it should occur, and in the event that both strips should be inturned at the same time, the tube readily deforms to accommodate them without stretching or unduly forcing the buttonhole aperture.

Moreover, the flexible nature of the tube 50 insures that the complete periphery of the buttonhole aperture will be subjected to the turning action so that the piping strips are invariably deposited at the under side of the garment fabric in neat and even arrangement and in position for any desired finishing operation without the necessity for any manual rearrangement of the piping strips.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. A device for inturning the edge structure of a piped garment opening, comprising an elongated deformable thin walled work-engaging member and a rigid supporting frame having a cross-sectional shape substantially smaller in size than that of said work engaging member when said work engaging member is not deformed, said frame arranged for engagement with said work-engaging member at each extremity thereof.

2. A device for inturning the edge structure of a piped garment opening comprising a thin-walled flexible tube, and a supporting member disposed within said tube having cross-sectional dimensions smaller than those of said tube when said tube is unflexed and arranged to afford rigid lengthwise support for said tube.

3. A device for inturning the edge structure of a piped garment opening, comprising a work-engaging tube having deformable side Walls, a frame member extending within said tube providing rigid support longitudinally thereof, said frame member arranged for engagement with said tube at each extremity thereof and disposed in spaced relation with said tube side walls.

4. A garment turning instrument, comprising a support frame, an elongated tube having deformable side-walls and one open extremity, means on said frame member engaging and gripping the open extremity of said tube, and a post extending from said frame member and disposed within said hollow tube in spaced relation with said deformable sidewalls.

5. A garment turning instrument comprising a thinwalled flexible tube having one closed extremity adapted to be inserted into and withdrawn from a garment opening, a rigid frame member spaced from said tube walls, means carried by said frame member supporting the closed extremity of said tube for insertion into said garment opening, and means securing the other extremity of said tube to said frame member for withdrawal from said garment opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,721,838 Semon et a1 July 23, 1929 2,114,794 Bratring Apr. 19, 1938 2,291,191 Scudder July 28, 1942 2,568,128 Morris Sept. 18, 1951 2,676,557 Silverberg Apr. 27, 1954 

